The Daughter of Hephaestus
by The hidden scribe
Summary: Leo retrieved the Archimedes sphere and his other stuff back from the dwarves. But while in Bologna, he quite literally runs into someone very interesting. She joins Leo on his way to the doors of Death, but separation never stayed away. What happens to the new girl? Especially when Egyptians enter the scene? Rated T for foul language. Just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello fellow Scribes! This is the first story of my re-done account so, I really hope you like it! BTW I took text directly from the books HoH and BoO! You have been notified. **

_**Disclaimer: I do not own HoH or BoO or the Kane Chronicles. They all Belong to Uncle Rick. **_

Chapter 1: Leo

The two dwarves that had just raided their ship and set off a flash bomb were gone. Leo managed to get up. Jason was already on his feet, stumbling and running into things. Franks had turned into a silverback gorilla. Why, Leo wasn't sure. Maybe to commune with the monkey dwarves? But the flash grenade had hit him the hardest. He was sprawled on the deck with his tongue hanging out and his gorilla eyes rolled up in his head.

"Piper!" Jason staggered to the helm and carefully pulled the gag out of her mouth.

"Don't waste your time on me!" She said. "Go after them!"

Leo looked at the control console where the archimedes sphere had been. He put a hand on his waist where his tool belt should have been. Those dwarves had attacked his ship and stolen his most precious possessions. Hatred boiled inside him. Leo turned to Jason.

"You feelin' good enough to control the winds? I need a lift". Jason frowned.

"Sure but-"

"Good" Leo said. "We've got some monkey dudes to catch".

* * *

><p>Jason and Leo touched down in a big piazza lined with white, marble government buildings and outdoor cafes. Bikes and vespas clogged the surrounding streets. But the square itself was empty, except for pigeons and a few old men drinking espresso.<p>

None of the locals seemed to notice the huge Greek warship hovering over the piazza, or the fact that Jason and Leo had just flown down, Jason wielding a gold sword, and Leo, well, Leo pretty much empty-handed.

"Where to?" Jason asked.

Leo stared at him. "Well, I dunno. Let me pull my dwarf-tracking GPS out of my tool belt... Oh, wait! I don't have a dwarf-tracking GPS... or my tool belt!"

"Fine," Jason grumbled. He glanced up at the ship as if to get his bearings, then pointed across the piazza. " The ballista fired the first dwarf in that direction, I think. Come on." They waded through a lake of pigeons, then maneuvered down a side street of clothing stores and gelato shops. The sidewalks were lined with white columns covered in graffiti. A few panhandlers asked for change (Leo didn't know Italian, but he got the message loud and clear).

He kept patting his waist, hoping his tool belt would magically reappear. It didn' t. He tried not to freak, but he' d come to depend on that belt for almost everything. He felt like somebody had stolen one of his hands.

" We' ll find it," Jason promised.

Usually, Leo would have felt reassured. Jason had a talent for staying levelheaded in a crisis, and he' d gotten Leo out of plenty of bad scrapes. Today, though, all Leo could think about was the stupid fortune cookie he had opened in Rome. The goddess Nemesis had promised him help, and he' d gotten it: the code to activate the Archimedes sphere. At the time, Leo had had no choice but to use it if he wanted to save his friends, but Nemesis had warned that her help came with a price.

Leo wondered if that price would ever be paid. Percy and Annabeth were gone. The ship was hundreds of miles off course, heading toward an impossible challenge. Leo' s friends were counting on him to beat a terrifying giant. And now he didn' t even have his tool belt or his Archimedes sphere. He was so absorbed with feeling sorry for himself that he had nearly lost all sense of direction had he not have slammed into something.

Leo stumbled backwards, trying to stay on his feet, failed and dizzily fell to the ground on his back.

"Leo!" Jason called back. "You o.k?" Leo groaned in response.

"I'll be with you in a minute. Find the dwarves." Jason nodded and ran off. Leo groaned and sat forward clutching his head. Turns out that the "something" he ran into was actually a "someone" because he was sure that walls didn't have teeth. He rubbed the newly made tooth mark on his forehead and tried to get a look at who he had run into. A girl sat ten feet away from him holding her jaw in one hand, and her side in the other. Leo tried to stand up but a wave of dizziness told him to wait. He counted to twenty and tried again. He stood up and walked over to the girl. Leo held his hand out.

"You o.k"? The girl jumped and looked up at Leo. When she saw him she relaxed.

"Um, yeah". She took Leo's hand and he helped her to her feet.

"Sorry bout' that. I wasn't looking". Whoever this girl was, she didn't seem to be paying attention to him. She kept glancing around and looking behind her, as if she was being followed.

"What? Oh yeah. Its no big deal." She said hastily.

"You sure you're ok"? The girl stared at him as if she was confused about solving a math problem. Then she glanced down. It was only then that Leo realized he was still holding her face flushed red and he quickly drew his hand back. The girl smirked at him in amusement.

"I'm Sheridan" she said holding her hand out. Leo recollected himself.

"Leo Valdez at your service". He shook her hand. Leo took a moment to look at Sheridan. She could have been his older sister. The only difference was that she was half a foot taller than him.

She had tanned skin like his, dark brown hair and brown eyes that looked like a circular sunset, slowly getting brighter towards the middle until they reached a brilliant gold color. She wore tan cargo shorts with attached suspenders, a maroon T-shirt and black Doc Martens. Her hair was pushed behind a red bandanna and pulled back into a long ponytail that reached her middle back. She had a pair of steam punk styled goggles worn on the bandanna and a tool belt similar to Leo's was strapped around her waist. Two metal straps were pulled over her shoulder and attached to one long one wrapping horizontally around her midsection. Leo didn't want to mention it just yet so he focused on something else.

"Nice tool belt, I had one like it but it got kinda stolen". Sheridan chuckled.

"Is that so?" She asked crossing her arms. "And may I ask who stole your tool belt"?

"These two-" Leo stopped himself mid sentence. How could he tell a mortal girl his tool belt was stolen by two overdressed dwarves? Sheridan began looking around again. This time she turned around completely to look behind her. Leo got a good look at her back. The metal straps he'd seen her wearing connected around her shoulders to a big shell of metal, about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide.

"Sheridan, what are you looking for?" Leo asked, trying hard not to eye the backpack.

"Well...um...how do I explain it?" Before she could, a loud thunderclap got Leo's attention. He looked up to heavy storm clouds gathering. _Jason must be in trouble. _

"I gotta go!" Leo took off without looking back at Sheridan. He felt bad about leaving her there, but Jason was possibly in trouble.

The dwarf with brown fur was currently sitting on top of the marble pedestal, at the feet of a nude Poseidon statue, in a nonworking fountain. Brown fur was pulling random tools out of Leo's belt, tossing aside wrenches, hammers, and staple guns.

" Stop that!" Leo tried to grab the dwarf' s feet, but he couldn' t reach the top of the pedestal.

" Too short?" Brown Fur sympathized.

" You' re calling me short?" Leo looked around for something to throw, but there was nothing but pigeons, and he doubted he could catch one. " Give me my belt, you stupid-"

" Now, now!" said Brown Fur. " We haven' t even introduced ourselves. I' m Akmon. And my brother over there-"

"- is the handsome one!" The red-furred dwarf lifted his espresso. Judging from his dilated eyes and his maniacal grin, he didn't need any more caffeine. " Passalos! Singer of songs! Drinker of coffee! Stealer of shiny stuff!"

" Please!" shrieked his brother, Akmon. "I steal much better than you." Passalos snorted.

" Stealing naps, maybe!" He took out a knife, Piper' s knife, and started picking his teeth with it.

" Hey!" Jason yelled. "That' s my girlfriend's knife!" He lunged at Passalos, but the red-furred dwarf was too quick. He sprang from his chair, bounced off Jason's head, did a flip, and landed next to Leo, his hairy arms around Leo' s waist.

" Save me?" the dwarf pleaded.

" Get off!" Leo tried to shove him away, but Passalos did a backward somersault and landed out of reach. Leo' s pants promptly fell around his knees. He stared at Passalos, who was now grinning and holding a small zigzaggy strip of metal. Somehow, the dwarf had stolen the zipper right off Leo' s pants.

" Give... stupid... zipper!" Leo stuttered, trying to shake his fist and hoist up his pants at the same time. Passalos took off his cowboy hat. Like a magician producing a rabbit, he pulled out the Archimedes sphere and began tinkering with the ancient bronze dials.

"Stop!" Leo yelled. "That' s a delicate machine."

Jason came to his side and glared up at the dwarfs. " Who are you two, anyway?"

" The Kerkopes!" Akmon narrowed his eyes at Jason. " I bet you' re a son of Jupiter, eh? I can always tell."

" Just like Black Bottom," Passalos agreed.

" Black Bottom?" Leo resisted the urge to jump at the dwarf's feet again. He was sure Passalos was going to ruin the Archimedes sphere any second now.

" Yes, you know." Akmon grinned. " Hercules. We called him Black Bottom because he used to go around without clothes. He got so tan that his backside, well…"

" At least he had a sense of humor!" Passalos said. " He was going to kill us when we stole from him, but he let us go because he liked our jokes. Not like you two. Grumpy, grumpy!"

" Hey, I' ve got a sense of humor," Leo snarled. " Give me back our stuff, and I' ll tell you a joke with a good punch line." His hands caught fire.

" Now we' re talking." Jason thrust his sword into the sky. More dark clouds began to gather over the piazza. Thunder boomed.

" Oh, scary"Akmon shrieked.

" Yes," Passalos agreed. " If only we had a secret lair to hide in."

" Alas, this statue isn' t the doorway to a secret lair," Akmon said. " It has a different purpose."

Leo' s gut twisted. The fires died in his hands, and he realized something was very wrong. He yelled, " Trap!" and dove out of the fountain. Unfortunately, Jason was too busy summoning his storm.

Leo rolled on his back as five golden cords shot from the Neptune statue' s fingers. One barely missed Leo's feet. The rest homed in on Jason, wrapping him like a rodeo calf and yanking him upside down.

A bolt of lightning blasted the tines of Neptune's trident, sending arcs of electricity up and down the statue, but the Kerkopes had already disappeared.

"Time to leave!" Akmon decided. Leo ran over to Jason, who was still hanging upside down, thoroughly hogtied except for his sword arm. He was trying to cut the cords with his gold blade but having no luck. Leo spotted the dwarves scaling a near-by tower.

"Just go!" Jason said. "Don't lose them!" He scanned the neighborhood, trying to think. Half a block down, a set of double glass doors opened and an old lady hobbled out, carrying plastic shopping bags.

A grocery store? Hmm...

Leo patted his pockets. To his amazement, he still had some euro notes from his time in Rome. Those stupid dwarfs had taken everything except his money.

He ran for the store as fast as his zipper-less pants allowed.

Leo scoured the aisles, looking for things he could use. He didn't know the Italian for Hello, where are your dangerous chemicals, please? But that was probably just as well. He didn' t want to end up in an Italian jail.

Fortunately, he didn' t need to read labels. He could tell just from picking up a toothpaste tube whether it contained potassium nitrate. He found charcoal. He found sugar and baking soda. The store sold matches, and bug spray, and aluminum foil. Pretty much everything he needed, plus a laundry cord he could use as a belt. He added some Italian junk food to the basket, just to sort of disguise his more suspicious purchases, then dumped his stuff at the register. A wide-eyed checkout lady asked him some questions he didn' t understand, but he managed to pay, get a bag, and race out.

He ducked into the nearest doorway where he could keep an eye on the towers. He started to work, summoning fire to dry out materials and do a little cooking that otherwise would have taken days to complete. After bribing a ticket collector with italian snacks, he raced up the stairs of the building. Leo burst through the door to the roof only to be smacked by a heat wave and a lot of smoke. He wasn't bothered by the smoke, but he was curious as to where it came from.

While the dwarves were hacking and wheezing, he grabbed his toolbelt from Akmon, calmly summoned some bungee cords and tied up the dwarfs.

"Nice one" a voice said. The smoke cleared and Sheridan was sitting on the ledge of the building, rummaging through the dwarves' sack of stolen items. Leo did a double take.

"Wait...You? You stopped them? How?" She gestured with her head and Leo could clearly see that the dwarves had been beaten, bruised and burned senseless. "I meant the fire." Sheridan held up a bag of the Italian snack Leo bribed the ticket collector with.

"Fonzies are surprisingly very flammable."

"But how did you get here so quickly"? Sheridan studied Leo for a moment.

"Who's your parent?" Leo was a bit surprised by her question.

"I don't-"

"You _are _a demigod right?" Leo nodded hesitantly.

"So what if I am?" Sheridan stepped closer to him.

"If you're who I think you are then that means that you and I are half brother and sister". Leo took a moment to process what he had just heard.

"So that means that you're..."

**Hope you liked the first Chapter! Leave a review and suggestions! Til' next time fellow Scribes! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello Fellow Scribes! So this chapter is more of Sheridan's background and stuff. Not as interesting as the first chapter and contains no text from the book. ALL MINE! But yeah. Awkwardness is cleared, stuff revealed, blah blah blah. Whatever. Enjoy! **

Chapter 2: Leo

Leo stared at Sheridan from across the table. His sister?! He still had trouble believing it. But Sheridan being a daughter of Hephaestus explained the tool belt and the mechanical "backpack".

Jason and Leo brought Sheridan back with them to the Argo II. They had agreed that three demigods in one open place was enough to attract at least one monster. Now they sat below deck in the dining area where Jason, Leo and everyone else, minus coach Hedge, were listening to Sheridan's story.

"So you're from camp half-blood" Jason said. Sheridan nodded.

"About four years ago, I was sent on a quest with two others and ended up here. I never managed to find a way back and stayed in Italy for the past four years."

"W

"Well" Sheridan began. "My mom got remarried when I was 7. She wanted to get married to another mechanic. But she chose the wrong kind".

"What do you mean by that?" Hazel asked.

"My step-dad was an inventor. But..." she faltered. "He would test his inventions on me". It was silent for a moment.

"Oh gods" Hazel whispered.

"What did he do to you?" Piper asked. Sheridan sighed.

"Sometimes it would be some cure, other times it would be a mechanical piece of hardware. You wouldn't believe what I'm immune to. Nico furrowed his eyebrows.

"Isn't it illegal to perform experiments on humans"? Sheridan nodded.

"Though, no one found out until two years ago". Everyone seemed to lean in, wanting more of the story.

"When I was 12, James, my step-dad, well...he had this brain chip".

"No way!" Jason protested.

"That's crazy!" Piper exclaimed.

"I know. I had learned to go forward with James' experiments, otherwise, he'd get really angry and lash out." Leo couldn't believe anyone would do this to someone. He felt himself getting mad. Mad at Hephaestus for letting this happen, mad at the fates for making it happen. mad at James for doing it. If James was standing right in front of him, he would have punched his teeth out. Sheridan continued.

"The operation almost didn't work. I nearly died before the surgery was over. If you can call it a surgery. He said I would never have to use remotes or controllers ever again. I would just have to think".

"Not sure I follow" Frank said. The others murmured in agreement.

"It works like a wireless interface". More blank stares, not including Leo. Sheridan rolled her eyes. "It's like wi-fi". The confusion was lifted from everyone's expressions, though Hazel still looked puzzled. "So anyways, I control everything from my brain, rather than using controllers or wires. The data," She used air quotes on the word data. "Is really just what I think about. The chip has a saved memory file on it that allows me to activate familiar weapons and machines from memory".

"So, your backpack," Leo mentioned. Sheridan nodded.

"Its usually the only thing I really use it for".

"But what does your backpack do?" Frank asked.

"You'll see sooner or later. The second time-"

"Second time?!" Jason half-shouted. Sheridan just shrugged.

" Anyway, the second time, James tried to replace my heart with a mechanical one.

"Tried?" Piper asked. Sheridan traced the wooden patterns of the table with her finger.

"My mom didn't know James was secretly cutting me open and shoving mechanical pieces inside me. She was too caught up in trying to keep him happy so he wouldn't leave like Hephaestus did. Although the last time I saw my mom, she had saved my life".

"How did she save your life if she never knew what was going on in the first place?" Piper asked.

"Well, I figured out that James was eventually going to turn me into a full on machine, bit by bit. Thankfully, my mom caught him with the mechanical heart". No one said anything. They were startled out of their thoughts by the coach's foot banging on the ground.

"You done down there?!"

They all filed out on deck. Jason asked Coach Hedge to show Sheridan around the Argo II. Once they had left, Jason spoke to everyone.

"So what do you think. Should she stay"? Hazel was the first to speak.

"I think she should. It would be good to have another set of eyes on board". The others muttered in agreement. Nico didn't look convinced.

"We don't know enough about her. She told us her backstory, sure. And we know that she's a demigod. But, we don't know if she's willing to help us". Leo went into defensive mode. Why, he didn't know. But all of a sudden, he felt protective over Sheridan.

"Of course she'll help us. Why wouldn't she"?

"We don't know if she' working with Gaea or not" Nico said. "And we can't just go trusting random demigods without them proving they're on our side".

"We did it with you! Why not Sheridan!?" Nico hesitated.

"Well..."

"That's enough" Jason said. He turned to Leo. "Leo, we had no choice with Nico, he's Hazel's brother".

"And Sheridan's my sister!"

"But how much do you really know about her?" Leo didn't answer. He knew Jason was right. But out of all of his brothers and sisters at Camp Half Blood, he felt the closest to Sheridan.

Not long after, Sheridan returned with Coach Hedge blabbering about some other story.

"-when he turned into a giant coy!" he said. Sheridan looked at Frank, making him blush. Jason stepped forward.

"So Sheridan, we've been thinking, and we want you aboard with us". Sheridan's head tilted to one side.

"Are you sure? I mean Coach told me about you being the seven from the Prophecy. I wouldn't want to mess anything up".

"Well, Nico and Coach aren't part of the prophecy and we're still fine" Piper said. That made Sheridan look even more confused. "Two of us are in Tartarus looking for the doors of death". Sheridan didn't say much for a bit.

"Okay then" she finally answered. "But what would you want me for"?

"Dude, do you not remember the dwarfs you beat up? Why wouldn't we want you?" Leo exclaimed. He saw Piper raise her eyebrows at him. Sheridan rubbed the back of her neck.

"I guess if you really want me to". Everyone smiled. Sheridan's face went from happy to confused. She looked at Frank. "A giant coy?" she asked. Frank's face turned red.

"I panicked, ok?" Sheridan snickered.

"Whatever you say big guy"

* * *

><p>Leo was feeling a lot better. He leaned on the rails and watched as he bounced a small flame across his fingers. <em>Maybe things will be better with Sheridan around <em>he thought. He didn't know why he felt so close to her. Leo had barely known her for a few hours. But he felt like they shared a small connection. Besides the fact that they were siblings. But he kept wondering about her backpack. Other than her ability to control it with her mind, what was so special about it? Everything he came up with lead him back to it being a jet pack, but he knew that a jet pack structured like hers wouldn't work well. Leo was lost in thought.

"Hey". Leo jumped. He hadn't heard Piper walk up behind him.

"Oh, hey Pipes". She leaned against the rails next to him. She looked concerned about something.

"You ok"? Piper looked at Leo quizzically.

"Just wondering about something".

"Ok, shoot". Piper bit on her lip for a moment.

"When Nico brought up the whole, trust issue about Sheridan, you seemed really defensive". Leo glanced at her. _What's she on about? _

"I mean, I know she's your sister and all, but you barely know her. I guess I'm just curious as to why you were so jumpy". Leo gazed at the floor.

"Truth is, I don't really know. I know she's older than me and all. And she can probably handle herself pretty well. But there was that moment where I had a chance to stay with her, and then, something blocked it".  
>"Nico being suspicious" Piper assumed. Leo nodded.<p>

"There's just something about her that makes me feel hopeful. I can't really explain it".

"Right'. Piper began to walk away but quickly stopped.

"Leo..."  
>"Yeah"? Piper chewed on her lip for a minute.<p>

"Before you found out she was your sister," she stopped for a minute. Leo's heart pounded faster. He knew exactly what Piper was going to ask. He prayed that she wouldn't.

"Is it possible that you...had other feelings for her"? Leo swallowed the lump in his throat.

"What 'other' feelings do you mean?"

"Its weird for me to ask, but did you like Sheridan before you found out?" Leo didn't respond. Piper's expression softened. "So you did". Leo nodded.

"She is really pretty." he said. Leo mentally slapped himself. _What are you thinking!? She's your sister! _

"I know its weird, Leo" Piper said. "But its hard for demigods not to like their siblings. Everyone at Camp Halfblood is related.

"I know." Leo said. "But this isn't some distant cousin we're talking about. This is someone with the same dad as me!" Piper put a hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Leo...you'll find someone. I doubt you'll stay in love with your sister forever." She gave him one last smile before returning to her cabin. Leo sighed.

"Lets hope I find anyone at all."

* * *

><p>Leo climbed down the stairs into the engine room to find Sheridan already there.<p>

"Hey" he called. Sheridan looked up from whatever it was she was doing. She had taken out her braids, leaving her hair out in long waves, which wasn't helping Leo get over any feelings he had.

"Hi." The stared at each other awkwardly for a while.

"So…" Leo tried to strike up a conversation.

"Its a nice ship" Sheridan offered.

"Oh, yeah thanks." Leo responded nonchalantly.

"Did you build the whole thing by yourself?"

"I had a little help." Leo rubbed the back of his neck. "So...your backpack…" Sheridan smiled eagerly.

"Oh yeah!" She stood and hurried back to the top deck with Leo at her heels.

They stood outside while the sun began to dip into the sky.

"You remember what I said about the whole brain thing right?" Leo nodded. Sheridan grinned. "Watch" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Leo heard tiny gears whirring and clicking. A metallic hum emerged from the backpack. Suddenly, the shell split right down the middle. The two halves rotated outward until they were just above horizontal. Then, large pieces of metal unfolded in a fan formation. When everything stopped moving, two huge falcon wings spread outward from Sheridan's shoulder blades. Leo stared in awe.

"Yeah. Definitely not a jet pack." He saw every detail. The "feathers" of the wings were connected to the base by a 3 dimensional gear that turned in every direction. "What's this gear for?"

"You don't expect me to fly with wings that can't turn right?" Leo looked at her.

"You can actually fly with those things?"

"Well they're not for decoration." As soon as she said it, the wings raised until they were perfectly vertical. Sheridan jumped off the ground and with a loud _Swoosh! _she was in the air, nearly fifty feet above the ship. Leo craned his neck to see. Sheridan burst forward with another flap and spun in the air. She flew doing corkscrews and flips. She folded her wings and dived straight down.

"Hey!" Leo jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit as Sheridan swooped back up.

"Sorry! Still trying to get the hang of it!" She landed and her wings folded back into the backpack form.

"Where'd you get something like that?" Sheridan laughed.

"Don't underestimate my abilities" Leo's eyes widened.

"You _made _that?!" She nodded. "That's amazing!"

"I guess…" Sheridan stood balancing on the ship's rails. "But common. A giant flying war ship, a walking table, and there was that mechanical dragon back at camp? That's amazing!"

"Um," Sheridan looked at him.

"What?"

"That mechanical dragon is our figurehead" She stared at him. Suddenly, a variety of clicks and whirring noises were made over the speakers.

"Hey!" They both shouted. Sheridan glared at the speaker.

"Teach your dragon some manners!" she said. More clicking noises. "Well that's because you're just a figurehead! Of course I didn't see you!" They continued arguing. Leo smiled to himself.

"Yep. Definitely better with her."

**So yeah. Boring chapter and stuff. Review, leave suggestions! I'll get the next chapter up ASAP. **

**Til' next time my fellow Scribes!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello fellow scribes! The majority of this chapter is from the book because i really want to transition into a much more interesting chapter. BUUUUUUT….it is really freaking long. Its like seven full length pages. At least I hope it is and my mind isn't messing with me. Whatever. Enjoy! **

Chapter 3: Jason.

Any suspicion that Jason had about Sheridan was beginning to loosen. So far, she had prevented Nico from pancaking against the deck after falling off the mainmast, blackened the head of a giant turtle, miraculously caught an arrow that would have punctured Piper straight through the nose, saved Frank from a bullet to the foot, and would have caught Jason in midair after he "fell asleep" after fighting venti had Piper had not commanded him to wake up. Slowly, he was beginning to trust her to a full extent.

Jason scanned their surroundings. The town must have been huge once. He could make out the shells of temples and bathhouses, a half-buried amphitheater, and empty pedestals that must have once held statues. Rows of columns marched off to nowhere. The old city walls wove in and out of the hillside like stone thread through a green cloth.

Some areas looked like they' d been excavated, but most of the city just seemed abandoned, as if it had been left to the elements for the last two thousand years.

" Welcome to Salona," Favonius said. " Capital of Dalmatia! Birthplace of Diocletian! But before that, long before that, it was the home of Cupid."

The name echoed, as if voices were whispering it through the ruins.

Something about this place seemed even creepier than the palace basement in Split. Jason had never thought much about Cupid. He'd certainly never thought of Cupid as scary. Even for Roman demigods, the name conjured up an image of a silly winged baby with a toy bow and arrow, flying around in his diapers on Valentine' s Day.

"Oh, he' s not like that," said Favonius.

Jason flinched. "You can read my mind?"

"I don't need to."Favonius tossed his bronze hoop in the air. " Everyone has the wrong impression of Cupid until they meet him."

Nico braced himself against a column, his legs trembling visibly.

"Hey, man-" Jason stepped toward him, but Nico waved him off.

At Nico's feet, the grass turned brown and wilted. The dead patch spread outward, as if poison were seeping from the soles of his shoes.

"Ah…"

Favonius nodded sympathetically. "I don' t blame you for being nervous, Nico di Angelo. Do you know how I ended up serving Cupid?"

" I don't serve anyone," Nico muttered. "Especially not Cupid."

Favonius continued as if he hadn't heard. "I fell in love with a mortal named Hyacinthus. He was quite extraordinary."

" He!?" Jason's brain was still fuzzy from his wind trip, so it took him a second to process that. " Oh-"

" Yes, Jason Grace." Favonius arched an eyebrow. " I fell in love with a dude. Does that shock you?"

Honestly, Jason wasn' t sure. He tried not to think about the details of godly love lives, no matter who they fell in love with. After all, his dad, Jupiter, wasn' t exactly a model of good behavior. Compared to some of the Olympian love scandals he' d heard about, the West Wind falling in love with a mortal guy didn't seem very shocking. "I guess not. So… Cupid struck you with his arrow, and you fell in love."

Favonius snorted. "You make it sound so simple. Alas, love is never simple. You see, the god Apollo also liked Hyacinthus. He claimed they were just friends. I don't know. But one day I came across them together, playing a game of quoits-"

There was that weird word again. " Quoits?"

" game with those hoops," Nico explained, though his voice was brittle. " Like horseshoes."

"Sort of," Favonius said. "At any rate, I was jealous. Instead of confronting them and finding out the truth, I shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring right at Hyacinthus's head and… well." The wind god sighed. " As Hyacinthus died, Apollo turned him into a flower, the hyacinth. I' m sure Apollo would've taken horrible vengeance on me, but Cupid offered me his protection. I' d done a terrible thing, but I'd been driven mad by love, so he spared me, on the condition that I work for him forever."

CUPID.

The name echoed through the ruins again.

" That would be my cue."Favonius stood. " Think long and hard about how you proceed, Nico di Angelo. You cannot lie to Cupid. If you let your anger rule you, well, your fate will be even sadder than mine."

Jason felt like his brain was turning back into wind. He didn't understand what Favonius was talking about, or why Nico seemed so shaken, but he had no time to think about it. The wind god disappeared in a swirl of red and gold. The summer air suddenly felt oppressive. The ground shook, and Jason and Nico drew their swords.

"So."

The voice rushed past Jason' s ear like a bullet. When he turned, no one was there.

"You come to claim the scepter."

Nico stood at his back, and for once Jason was glad to have the guy's company.

Cupid," Jason called, " where are you?"

The voice laughed. It definitely didn' t sound like a cute baby angel' s. It sounded deep and rich, but also threatening, like a tremor before a major earthquake.

"Where you least expect me," Cupid answered. As Love always is.

Something slammed into Jason and hurled him across the street. He toppled down a set of steps and sprawled on the floor of an excavated Roman basement.

I would think you' d know better, Jason Grace. Cupid' s voice whirled around him. You' ve found true love, after all. Or do you still doubt yourself?

Nico scrambled down the steps. " You okay?"

Jason accepted his hand and got to his feet. "Yeah. Just sucker punched."

"Oh, did you expect me to play fair?" Cupid laughed. "I am the

god of love. I am never fair."

This time, Jason's senses were on high alert. He felt the air ripple just as an arrow materialized, racing toward Nico' s chest.

Jason intercepted it with his sword and deflected it sideways. The arrow exploded against the nearest wall, peppering them with limestone shrapnel.

They ran up the steps. Jason pulled Nico to one side as another gust of wind toppled a column that would have crushed him flat.

"Is this guy Love or Death?" Jason growled.

"Ask your friends," Cupid said. "Frank, Hazel, and Percy met my counterpart, Thanatos. We are not so different. Except Death is sometimes kinder."

" We just want the scepter!" Nico shouted. " We' re trying to stop Gaea. Are you on the gods' side or not?"

A second arrow hit the ground between Nico's feet and glowed white-hot. Nico stumbled back as the arrow burst into a geyser of flame.

"Love is on every side," Cupid said. "And no one's side. Don' t ask what Love can do for you."

" Great," Jason said. "Now he' s spouting greeting card messages."

Movement behind him: Jason spun, slicing his sword through the air. His blade bit into something solid. He heard a grunt and he swung again, but the invisible god was gone. On the paving stones, a trail of golden ichor shimmered, the blood of the gods.

"Very good, Jason," Cupid said. At least you can sense my presence. Even a glancing hit at true love is more than most heroes manage.

" So now I get the scepter?" Jason asked.

Cupid laughed. "Unfortunately, you could not wield it. Only a child of the Underworld can summon the dead legions. And only an officer of Rome can lead them."

" But-" Jason wavered. He was an officer. He was praetor. Then he remembered all his second thoughts abowhere he belonged. In New Rome, he' d offered to give up his position to Percy Jackson. Did that make him unworthy to lead a legion of Roman ghosts?

He decided to face that problem when the time came.

"Just leave that to us," he said. " Nico can summon-"

The third arrow zipped by Jason's shoulder. He couldn' t stop it in time. Nico gasped as it sunk into his sword arm.

" Nico!"

The son of Hades stumbled. The arrow dissolved, leaving no blood and no visible wound, but Nico's face was tight with rage and pain.

" Enough games!" Nico shouted. " Show yourself!"

It is a costly thing, Cupid said, looking on the true face of Love.

Another column toppled. Jason scrambled out of its way.

My wife Psyche learned that lesson, Cupid said. She was brought here eons ago, when this was the site of my palace. We met only in the dark. She was warned never to look upon me, and yet she could not stand the mystery. She feared I was a monster. One night, she lit a candle, and beheld my face as I slept.

" Were you that ugly?" Jason thought he had zeroed in on Cupid's voice, at the edge of the amphitheater about twenty yards away, but he wanted to make sure.

The god laughed. "I was too handsome, I' m afraid. A mortal cannot gaze upon the true appearance of a god without suffering consequences. My mother, Aphrodite, cursed Psyche for her distrust. My poor lover was tormented, forced into exile, given horrible tasks to prove her worth. She was even sent to the Underworld on a quest to show her dedication. She earned her way back to my side, but she suffered greatly."

"Now I've got you," Jason thought.

He thrust his sword in the sky and thunder shook the valley. Lightning blasted a crater where the voice had been speaking.

Silence. Jason was just thinking, Dang, it actually worked, when an invisible force knocked him to the ground. His sword skittered across the road.

"A good try," Cupid said, his voice already distant. "But Love cannot be pinned down so easily."

Next to him, a wall collapsed. Jason barely managed to roll aside.

" Stop it!" Nico yelled. " It's me you want. Leave him alone!"

Jason' s ears rang. He was dizzy from getting smacked around. His mouth tasted like limestone dust. He didn' t understand why Nico would think of himself as the main target, but Cupid seemed to agree.

"Poor Nico di Angelo." The god's voice was tinged with disappointment. "Do you know what you want, much less what I want? My beloved Psyche risked everything in the name of Love. It was the only way to atone for her lack of faith. And you, what have you risked in my name?"

" I've been to Tartarus and back," Nico snarled. " You don't scare me."

"I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest."

Jason pulled himself up.

All around Nico, the ground shifted. The grass withered, and the stones cracked as if something was moving in the earth beneath, trying to push its way through.

"Give us Diocletian's scepter," Nico said. " We don't have time for games."

"Games?" Cupid struck, slapping Nico sideways into a granite pedestal. "Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work, a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you" especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards."

Jason retrieved his sword. If this invisible guy was Love, Jason was beginning to think Love was overrated. He liked Piper' s version better, considerate, kind, and beautiful. Aphrodite he could understand. Cupid seemed more like a thug, an enforcer.

" Nico," he called, " what does this guy want from you?"

"Tell him, Nico di Angelo," Cupid said. "Tell him you are a coward, afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always alone."

Nico let loose a guttural scream. The ground at his feet split open and skeletons crawled forth, dead Romans with missing hands and caved-in skulls, cracked ribs, and jaws unhinged. Some were dressed in the remnants of togas. Others had glinting pieces of armor hanging off their chests.

"Will you hide among the dead, as you always do?" Cupid taunted.

Waves of darkness rolled off the son of Hades. When they hit Jason, he almost lost consciousness, overwhelmed by hatred and fear and shame.

Images flashed through his mind. He saw Nico and his sister on a snowy cliff in Maine, Percy Jackson protecting them from a manticore. Percy's sword gleamed in the dark. He'd been the first demigod Nico had ever seen in action.

Later, at Camp Half-Blood, Percy took Nico by the arm, promising to keep his sister Bianca safe. Nico believed him. Nico looked into his sea-green eyes and thought, How can he possibly fail? This is a real hero. He was Nico's favorite game, Mythomagic, brought to life.

Jason saw the moment when Percy returned and told Nico that Bianca was dead. Nico had screamed and called him a liar. He' d felt betrayed, but still, when the skeleton warriors attacked, he couldn' t let them harm Percy. Nico had called on the earth to swallow them up, and then he'd run away, terrified of his own powers, and his own emotions.

Jason saw a dozen more scenes like this from Nico's point of view… And they left him stunned, unable to move or speak.

Meanwhile, Nico' s Roman skeletons

surged forward and grappled with something invisible. The god struggled, flinging the dead aside, breaking off ribs and skulls, but the skeletons kept coming, pinning the godÃ¢Â Â s arms.

Interesting! Cupid said. Do you have the strength, after all?

"I left Camp Half-Blood because of love," Nico said. " Annabeth… she-"

"Still hiding," Cupid said, smashing another skeleton to pieces. "You do not have the strength."

"Nico," Jason managed to say, "it' s okay. I get it."

Nico glanced over, pain and misery washing across his face.

" No, you don' t," he said. " There' s no way you can understand."

"And so you run away again," Cupid chided. "From your friends, from yourself."

" I don' t have friends!" Nico yelled. "I left Camp Half-Blood because I don' t belong! I' ll never belong!"

The skeletons had Cupid pinned now, but the invisible god laughed so cruelly that Jason wanted to summon another bolt of lightning. Unfortunately, he doubted he had the strength.

" Leave him alone, Cupid," Jason croaked. "This isn't-"

His voice failed. He wanted to say it wasn't Cupid' s business, but he realized this was exactly Cupid' s business. Something Favonius said kept buzzing in his ears: Are you shocked?

The story of Psyche finally made sense to him, why a mortal girl would be so afraid. Why she would risk breaking the rules to look the god of love in the face, because she feared he might be a monster.

Psyche had been right. Cupid was a monster. Love was the most savage monster of all.

Nico' s voice was like broken glass. "I-I wasn't in love with Annabeth."

"You were jealous of her," Jason said. " That's why you didn' t

want to be around her. Especially why you didn't want to be around him. It makes total sense."

All the fight and denial seemed to go out of Nico at once. The darkness subsided. The Roman dead collapsed into bones and crumbled to dust.

"I hated myself," Nico said. "I hated Percy Jackson."

Cupid became visible, a lean, muscular young man with snowy white wings, straight black hair, a simple white frock and jeans. The bow and quiver slung over his shoulder were no toys, they were weapons of war. His eyes were as red as blood, as if every Valentine in the world had been squeezed dry, distilled into one poisonous mixture. His face was handsome, but also harsh, as difficult to look at as a spotlight. He watched Nico with satisfaction, as if he' d identified the exact spot for his next arrow to make a clean kill.

"I had a crush on Percy," Nico spat. "That' s the truth. That's the big secret."

He glared at Cupid. " Happy now?"

For the first time, Cupid's gaze seemed sympathetic. " Oh, I wouldn't say Love always makes you happy." His voice sounded smaller, much more human. " Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you've faced it now. That' s the only way to conquer me." Cupid looked directly at Jason  
>"So listen closely. Travel to the Blank Island. There, you will find an artifact that will surely help you in the future."<p>

Cupid began to dissolve. "But I will admit," he said to Nico. "You were easier than that bisexual friend of your's." Jason and Nico stole glances from each other.

"What bisexual friend?" Jason asked. But Cupid was gone.

On the ground where he' d stood lay an ivory staff three feet long, topped with a dark globe of polished marble about the size of a baseball, nestled on the backs of three gold Roman eagles. The scepter of Diocletian.

Nico knelt and picked it up. He regarded Jason, as if waiting for an attack. "If the others found out-"

"If the others found out," Jason said, "you' d have that many more people to back you up, and to unleash the fury of the gods on anybody who gives you trouble."

Nico scowled. Jason still felt the resentment and anger rippling off him.

" But it's your call," Jason added. " Your decision to share or not. I can only tell you-"

"I don' t feel that way anymore," Nico muttered. "I mean… I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I… I don't-"

His voice cracked, and Jason could tell the guy was about to get teary-eyed. Whether Nico had really given up on Percy or not, Jason couldn' t imagine what it had been like for Nico all those years, keeping a secret that would've been unthinkable to share in the 1940s, denying who he was, feeling completely alone, even more isolated than other demigods.

" Nico," he said gently, "I' ve seen a lot of brave things. But what you just did? That was maybe the bravest."

Nico looked up uncertainly. " We should get back to the ship."

"Yeah. I can fly us-"

"No," Nico announced. "This time we're shadow-traveling. I' ve had enough of the winds for a while."

**And that's that! Sorry for well, not really doing anything. 0 points for creativity. And thanks to **

**For writing the first review! I'm really glad you liked it! **

**Til' next time fellow Scribes!**


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